Porsche in £1.5bn lawsuit

Porsche's chairman Wolfgang Porsche and board member Ferdinand Piech are being sued over its failed takeover bid for Volkswagen.

Seven hedge funds are seeking 1.8bn euros (£1.5bn) in compensation.

Porsche has been accused of misleading markets in the run-up to its takeover bid for VW in 2008. It initially dismissed speculation it was seeking to takeover VW, but later revealed that it owned or had positions on almost 74% of VW shares.

Some investors had bet against Volkswagen shares, expecting them to fall in the absence on any firm takeover bid from Porsche, but Porsche's disclosure of an increased holding triggered a stock market squeeze on VW shares as investors rushed to buy them to cover their short positions.

Porsche, which has earlier faced similar cases, has denied any wrongdoing.

As editor, Tim is responsible for the media content, planning and production of AM's multiple channels (AM print and digital magazines, website, social media and contributing to our events planning). He interviews and writes about as many franchised dealer groups and UK divisions of motor manufacturers as possible, to explore the issues facing UK motor retail and understand what solutions dealers and suppliers are using to overcome these.